Bar Stool Whirls
by Between The Clouds
Summary: AU. William van der Woodsen returns when Serena is 15 to help curb her wild ways. This affects everything in her life, including her confusing relationship with Nate, and of course, her best friend Blair.
1. Chapter 1

Serena stood at the stove with Blair, trying to steal bits of chocolate chip cookie dough from the bowl Blair was holding as the smaller girl spooned dough on the cookie sheet. Blair swatted her hand away every time Serena tried it, making the blonde laugh in response.

It was a random weekday after school. Serena and Blair were at Serena's, making cookies. When it came to anything food related, the girls always went to Serena's, free from Eleanor's watchful eye on Blair's waistline. They always had a blast together, but today something seemed off about Serena's laughter. Serena stopped trying to eat the cookie dough from under Blair's nose and sat down at the kitchen table, no longer in the mood to participate.

Once the cookies were in the oven, Blair joined her best friend at the table, putting the bowl in front of Serena. "What's going on, S? Cookie dough will fix it." Serena only shook her head, finally looking Blair in the eye.

"My dad says I can't go to the Shepard wedding."

"What? Why?"

Serena grinned a little as she summarized the events from the night before. "I came home way too late last night. When I finally got back, around 3 AM, he was still up waiting for me. I don't know why, 'cause he never cared too much before. But anyway, he started this whole tirade and I was just sick of it, him pretending to care when all he does is work and stay away from his kids. So I told him he was a faker and I didn't know why he even came back in the first place, since nobody wants him here. He just lost it at that point, calling me disrespectful and ungrateful. He said I'm grounded for a month. Luckily he and mom are never around anyway, so I can still do stuff after school. But I definitely can't get away with going to the wedding."

"Why are you listening to him? You never did before."

"He threatened to send me to boarding school," Serena admitted, looking down into the cookie bowl. "And it's not like I like him being here all of a sudden, thinking he can act like a parent when he was never around for me and Eric, but I…" She stirred the remaining dough with the spoon, watching the chocolate chips pass one another and form new groups. "He's my dad. I just got him back, and no matter how much I push him away, I don't want to screw up so bad that he sends me away or leaves again."

Blair gave her best friend a sympathetic look, patting the girl's head and running her hands through her golden curls. "He's not going to leave again, I promise. But you'd better be on your best behaviour for the next few weeks. I don't want you missing any more weddings or divorce parties. They're not the same without you getting drunk and dancing on bars," she joked with a wry smile.

Serena laughed and put a spoonful of cookie dough in her mouth. "I'm sure I'll make it to the Shepard divorce party in a few years. He can't keep me grounded forever!"

Xoxo

"I heard you're not going to the Shepard wedding."

She was standing in the courtyard at school when he came up to her. Her breath caught, just for a second, when he spoke. It was silly, really, feeling this way after so many years of having delightful conversations with him while maintaining a perfectly normal breath and heart rate. But somehow there was this tension building between them and inside them, and she didn't know where it came from or how to stop it, or even if she wanted to.

"Yeah, my dad's really mad this time. I'm grounded for a month," she replied, in what she hoped was a casual tone of voice.

"Too bad," Nate said, staring into her blue eyes just a moment longer than he should. "I was going to ask you to save me a dance."

Serena broke out into a huge smile. "Next time," she promised.

"So what are you gonna do on Saturday, then? You're probably gonna be pretty bored."

She pouted in only the way she could. "I'll probably end up re-watching Dawson's Creek all day. And order a pizza all to myself. While you and Blair and Chuck will be having all the fun, stealing champagne bottles and causing scenes."

"I'll tell you what, after I drop Blair off, I'll come see you and sneak you a bottle of champagne. We can still have a wedding party." She didn't even ask _What about Blair?_ It seemed so natural to exclude Blair these days, without either of them even having to think about it. Blair wasn't into parties like Serena and Nate were, anyway.

Serena enthusiastically nodded. "Yes, please come save me from the endless Dawson/Pacey debate! My parents won't be back until late, so we should have a couple hours."

Nate smiled, squeezing her arm. "I'll be there," he assured her before walking away. Off to meet Blair for lunch.

Xoxo

At 9:30 PM on Saturday, Serena received a text. She jumped up from her bed, not even bothering to press pause on her show. Her heart dropped, just the tiniest bit, when she saw it was from Blair.

 _N is wasted. Left him in bar to sober up before we leave_

Even so, she waited for him. He just needed to sober up enough to come over, she reasoned. It would only take a few hours.

Hours later, she was just about to give up and go to sleep when her phone beeped again. She grabbed it, an expectant smile on her face as she checked the text. The smile went away. Another text from Blair.

 _Home now. We missed u! U could've made it a nite to remember_

Serena threw her phone on the bed and tucked her knees up to her chin. It was a complete waste of a night. All because of her asshole dad. She could really use a joint right about now.

Disclaimer: I still do not own the story or characters.


	2. Chapter 2

Bar Stool Whirls Chapter 2

The next morning, Serena tried not to choke on her pancakes as her father went on a diatribe about his day at work yesterday. It was Sunday brunch at the van der Woodsens', a newly instilled tradition that Lily came up with to bond the family together. Serena examined her parents and brother around the table. William was in animated discussion with himself, as she noted he was always careful to avoid direct eye contact with anybody. Lily pretended to be interested in what he was saying, but her glance sometimes fell down to the shopping catalogue she discreetly stowed under her plate. Eric was actually paying attention, his entire cherub's face lit up at the joy of finally having his dad back. They looked like a more dysfunctional version of the Waldorfs.

"So I finally find my colleague, and he's just standing there and eating a doughnut! I tell him his lunch break was over twenty minutes ago, and he has patients waiting to see him. He just looks at his doughnut and says, 'I'm going to need a few more minutes, Bill.' Can you imagine that?" William laughed. He then checked his watch and got up. "Gotta go, kids!"

Serena let out a frustrated sigh. "Dad, it's a Sunday," she groaned.

"Sickness doesn't take a rest day, sweetie," he quipped, patting his daughter's head before leaving.

As the door closed behind him, the blonde slammed down her glass of orange juice. Lily gave her a reproving look, but she just glared. "What?"

She grabbed a few strawberries from the fruit bowl before getting up from the table. "You know what, I have a lot of homework to do, so I'm just going to go start on that."

"You do homework now?" Eric asked, holding back a smirk. Serena stared him down.

Lily got up as well. "Serena, could I just have a word with you first?"

Again, Serena dramatically sighed, but she didn't stop her mother from following her into her room. Lily closed the door behind her before sitting next to Serena on her bed. She didn't waste any time. "Okay, what's all of this about?" she demanded. "I thought you were acting out to get your father's attention. Well, it worked. He's back now. He's been back for three months, Serena. If anything, your behaviour's just gotten worse."

The teenager just played with the loose threads of her blanket, avoiding her mother's gaze. "Three months doesn't make up for ten years," she muttered.

"You're right, it doesn't," Lily admitted. "But your father is trying. It may not look like it to you, but adults have responsibilities to pay the bills and support their families. He can't spend all his time with you."

"He's not trying hard enough."

Lily grew concerned. "Is there something else going on?", she asked, putting her hand over Serena's.

"I just like having fun. What's wrong with that?" Serena challenged.

At this, Lily stood up and pressed her fingers to her temple. "Well, whatever is going on with you, it has to stop. Do you know what people are saying about us? In less than a year you'll have your Cotillion. You can't come out to society the way you are now." She walked out of Serena's room gracefully, showing none of the anger she obviously felt.

Serena flopped down on her pillows, staring at her ceiling.

Xoxo

"My parents suck."

"So do mine," the voice on the other end retorted cheerily. "At least you don't have an overbearing grandfather."

Serena smiled a bit at this. "Oh, CeCe's more than enough on that front."

Nate laughed. "She's definitely a firecracker." He paused. "Let me guess, you want to vent. And Blair's busy."

"You know me too well. Blair's spending the day with her dad," the blonde grinned.

"Knew it! So what's up?"

Serena filled him in on everything since her dad arrived back. How excited she was to spend time with him and get to know him at first, but then he never seemed to have time for her or her brother. How Eric still followed him around like a puppy. How having two parents around and ignoring her were somehow worse than one. How she grew to resent him and act out even harder. The whole story behind why she wasn't allowed to go to the Shepard wedding. And finally, Lily's warning that morning.

"Wow," Nate exhaled when she finished. "That's intense."

"Right? They're being so unfair!"

Nate hesitated. "They're handling it like jackasses, but… they kind of have a point," he admitted slowly.

"What?"

He flinched at her tone. Maybe a lighter approach would be better. "I mean, bad girl S is awesome, but so is good girl S. I wouldn't mind seeing her make a comeback." The truth was, he and Blair were getting tired of Serena's hard partying. It was getting increasingly destructive, and he wished she would at least tone it down a little.

"It's not like I have a whole different persona," Serena argued. "It's like how you like to light up with Chuck, or how Blair likes to perfectly coordinate her outfits for every occasion, or how Chuck likes to sleep with every female in Manhattan. It's just something to blow off steam."

"Hmmmm…" This gave him an idea. "In that case, let's make a bet. For one month, I won't touch weed and you won't have a single drop of alcohol. I'll be checking Gossip Girl postings frequently, so don't think you can get away with being sneaky."

"Ohhh?" Serena adopted a playful tone. "So what does the winner get?", she asked, nestling further into her pillows. Things were getting interesting.

Nate thought hard. "If I win, I want… I want you cook me a four course dinner."

"Done," she announced. "If I win, which I will, I want you to get us into a hotel and pretend we're guests. We have to have access to all the facilities, like the bar and pool. And we have to stay there for at least six hours without getting caught. Oh, and if we do get caught, you can't buy them off, 'cause that would be too easy."

"Okay, one of these is way harder than the other."

"Clearly you've never seen me in the kitchen," Serena giggled.

Nate smiled. "Fine, I agree with the terms. It's a deal. I'd shake on it, but it's kind of hard to do that over the phone..."

"We'll go by the honour system." By this time, Serena was smiling too. "I guess I'll have to stay away from Georgina for a while."

"May the best man win," Nate said before hanging up. Serena grinned slyly to herself. She never was the type to lose.

Xoxo

Later that night, Blair and Nate were strolling through Central Park, ice cream cones in their hands. Blair linked her arm in his and looked up at him, a sparkle in her eyes. "It's a beautiful night, isn't it?"

Nate smiled at her. "Yeah, it is. But it's not the only thing that's beautiful."

She got on her tiptoes and leaned up to kiss him. "You always know the right things to say. You're such a gentleman," she whispered.

While she was distracted, he ducked down and licked her ice cream. "Do gentlemen get the lady's ice cream?" he asked with a devious smile. Blair shrieked and playfully hit him.

They continued walking in blissful silence. Then Nate turned to her. "I think this is going to be a really good year for us," he said earnestly.

"I do too." Blair smiled. "I love you."

"Always have?"

"Always will."

 **Disclaimer:** I still don't own Gossip Girl or the characters.

 **Author's Note:** How do you think Serena and Nate's bet will go? Will Blair and Nate still be happy together? You'll find out soon!


End file.
